New branch of Mothers' Union established

Published: 10 May 2012

A new branch of the Mothers' Union is up and running at St Andrew's, the parish church of Dearnley and Smithy Bridge. The inaugural meeting was held in the parish roomon 7 May, when 17 new members were enrolled.

"The attendance was extremely encouraging and I feel sure we will go from strength to strength," said Jean Townsend, who has been largely responsible for re-establishing the Mothers' Union in a parish which used to have a thriving and exceedingly active branch until it lapsed many years ago.

The recruitment meeting was attended by two long-serving members from other churches, Margaret Morris of St Ann's, Belfield and Margaret Shewring of St James's, Milnrow, who each gave a talk outlining the Mothers' Union's history, aims and objectives.

It was formed by Mary Elizabeth Sumner in England in 1896 and it quickly spread around the world. In more recent years, however, it has been considerably stronger in other parts of the world than it has in the land of its roots.

By all accounts it has a particularly strong and vibrant branch in our link parish of St Mary, Omboloka, Namibia and it was following a visit there that our vicar, the Revd Sharon Jones, herself enrolled as a member.

Added Jean: "We plan is to have a speaker every second month and at the other meetings to put into practice some of the many activities which have already been suggested by the membership.

"I would also like to thank the two Margarets from St Ann's and from St James's for giving us such a splendid and fascinating talk about the Mothers' Union. It was more than interesting, it was inspirational."